(*) As of Patch 5.4 using Up/Down to access previously entered chat lines without the Alt key is limited to non-secure commands only. If you need to access previously entered secure commands (like /cast or /use) you will still need to hold the Alt key.

(**) If a channel is sticky, then after talking in that channel, the chat input box will open to the same chat type again, rather than making you type /g or /ra again.

Options & Commands

Type /pchat for options, or find them in the Interface Options.

Type /clear or /clearchat to clear all visible chat windows.

Type /clear all or /clearchat all to clear all chat windows.

Type /tt" or /wt to send a whisper to your current target.

Some additional options, such as customizing which channels are made sticky and what abbreviations are used for channel names, are available by editing the Core.lua file in a plain-text editor such as Notepad. If you break something, download a fresh copy and try again.

Please DO NOT send me PMs asking for help, reporting bugs, or requesting features. To report a bug or suggest a feature, see the instructions below. To get help, post a comment. I read and respond to every ticket and comment!

Language Support

Works in all languages. Translated into English, Deutsch, Espańol, Français, Portuguęs, Русский, 한국어, 简体中文, and 繁體中文 (partial). Add or update translations for any locale on CurseForge!

Feedback

Post a ticket or comment. If you are reporting a bug, please include directions I can follow to reproduce the bug, whether it still happens when all other addons are disabled, and the exact text of the related error message (if any) from Bugger.

The following features will never be added to PhanxChat, and requests for them will be deleted, so please just don't bother posting such requests:

Reskinned or recolored edit box, chat tabs, or anything else

Custom fonts, outlines, shadows, or text alignments

Freely movable/draggable edit box

Extra entries in the player name right-click menu

Extra click actions on player names (eg. alt-click to invite)

Alerts for specific words or message types seen in chat

Mouseover tooltips on item or other links

Keybindings to open specific chat channels

Nicknames, main/alt aliases, group numbers, levels, or any other extra text

Anything related to timestamps

Version 7.3.0.0

Updated for WoW 7.3

Version 7.1.0.1

Fixed removing brackets from Battle.net player names

Fixed an error when shift-clicking Battle.net player names in chat (ticket #13)

Added intelligent downgrading of group channels (/i is automatically converted to /ra or /p if you're not in an instance group, and /ra and /rw are converted to /i or /p if you're not in a raid group) (ticket #9)

Updated Battle.net player name shift-click reports to support Hearthstone and the Battle.net Desktop App

Version 5.4.2.231

Battle.net names will now be colored by class all the time, not just when replacing them with character names

Battle.net "Player (Character) has come online" messages will now be shortened to just "Name has come online" using your Battle.net name settings

Battle.net name shortening and coloring will no longer occasionally not work right away after logging in

The /tt and /wt commands will now recognize the player as a valid whisper target

Updated Traditional Chinese localization from tss1398383123 on Curse

Version 5.4.2.221

Fixed an issue with removing realm names

Version 5.4.1.219

Improved the behavior of history cycling after reusing an existing history line.

Fixed an error that would occur when trying to cycle through chat history before any lines were added to it.

Version 5.4.1.216

Added a limited workaround for Blizzard's stupid auto-complete changes in 5.4 that broke the ability to cycle through your chat input history using the Up/Down arrows without holding the Alt key. However, this is limited to non-secure commands only. If you need to access previously entered secure commands (like /cast or /use) you will still need to hold the Alt key.

Version 5.4.1.212

Updated for WoW 5.4

Fixed the "Shorten RealID names" option not saving properly

Version 5.3.0.210

Updated German localization from staratnight

Updated Simplified Chinese localization from tss1398383123

Version 5.3.0.209

Updated for WoW 5.3

Battle.net names are no longer class colored when Show Class Colors is disabled

Version 5.2.0.208

Channel names are now shortened in the editbox too

Chat fade time can now be specified in 15-second increments

Version 5.2.0.203

Updated Traditional Chinese localization from BNSSNB on CurseForge

Updated German localization from bigx2 on CurseForge

Version 5.2.0.201

Fixed shortening real names at first login

Fixed using short names for numbered channels instead of numbers only (Lua config only)

Version 5.2.0.198

Updated for WoW 5.2

The "Shorten player names" option has been renamed to "Remove server names" and now only removes server names from cross-realm character names.

A new "Shorten real names" option has been added, with the choice of keeping full names, showing first names only, or replacing Real ID names with BattleTags.

The "Replace real names" option will continue to replace both Real ID names and BattleTags with character names.

Added /who print when shift-clicking Real ID player names to keep them consistent with normal player names

Improved efficiency of bottom button display check

Improved visibility of resize edges on unlocked chat frames

Fixed URL linking to not cause taint

Version 3.3.5.94

Due to file changes, you should completely uninstall your existing copy of the addon before installing this version. Removing your old saved variables is recommended, but not required.

Added a Shorten Player Names feature, which shortens player names by removing realm names from cross-realm players and last names from Real ID players.

Removed the Auto Start Chat Log feature, because I never used it.

Removed the Color Player Names feature, because it was just too much code and performance overhead to color the very few types of messages that the default UI doesn't already color, and also confused all the people who never read patch notes or change logs.

Translations are needed for all locales.

All existing translations for the configuration UI have been discarded, since none of them had been updated since the transition from slash commands to a GUI over a year ago. If you can provide translations for any locale, please send me a PM.

Additionally, several chat channels are currently only shortened in English locales, because nobody has provided translations for them. If you see a channel name that isn't shortened, please post a bug report ticket with your locale (eg. "German" or "deDE"), the English name of the channel (eg. "General"), the localized name of the channel (eg. "Allgemein"), and an appropriate short form for your locale (eg. "A").

Version 3.3.5.73

Fixed a bug preveing the new Battle.net "toast" window from being shown

Use RAID_CLASS_COLORS for class coloring (I recommend ReTeal for restoring the teal class color for shamans)

Version 20100-r07

Changed method for getting class information from short who queries. This means you will not get class coloring from shift-clicking blood elves and night elves.

Version 20100-r06

Changed detection pattern for short who results to be less specific (should always pick up names and classes now)

Added a compatibility check to stop the errors from AtlasLoot when validating items

Version 20100-r05

Fixed FuBar plugin / minimap icon error

changed FuBar plugin / minimap icon menu

Version 20100-r04

Fixed duplicate FuBar plugin / minimap icon

Version 20100-r03

Fixed sticky channels toggle

Fixed channel color memory toggle

Maybe fixed Auctioneer conflict (I couldn't reproduce it)

Version 20100-r02

Added option to save class colors between sessions

Added option to suppress certain spammy messages

Added optional GUI configuration

Version 20100-r01

TEMPORARY fix for visible line ID. Note that this fix discards the line ID completely, preventing use of the new spam reporting functions. If you would prefer to report spam, disable the player name class coloring and bracket removal features.

Originally posted by Phanx I think the problem was that it was too specific, and wasn't picking up all variations with guild names, zone names, etc, so now it only matches for the first part of the pattern, with "Name - Level X Race Class " and doesn't bother with the end part. Could you possibly provide some specifics on which names it isn't picking up? With guild name and zone if possible.

In-game right now as I type this, this all coming from trade chat in Shat, I found 5 so far that did not colour properly:

Hmm. Well, "Night Elf" is the problem, since the pattern is searching for a number (the level) followed by a single word (race) followed by one more single word (class), and since "Elf" is not a class, it's not coloring that name. I don't play Alliance, but it's probably an issue with blood elves as well. I really haven't spent a lot of time testing everything, so it's quite possible I've never shift-clicked an elf. :P

The guy who's not a night elf, I have no idea. The special character shouldn't pose a problem, since other names with special characters are being colored fine... I'll try to find someone with an accented O in their name to test on.

Uploaded version 20100-r07. This version changes the method for getting player classes from short who query results, so you will now get class colors for shift-clicked Blood Elves and Night Elves. It should also fix the issues with names containing special characters. I've actually had this fixed for about a week, just hadn't gotten around to uploading it. >_>

Please read the "Have a feature request?" section in the addon description above.

Timestamps have already been requested many times, and I have declined to add them just as many times. My view on timestamps is that they are worthless clutter, and my entire motivation for writing this addon is to add functionality while reducing clutter in the chat frame. As such, I will never add timestamps to my addon. There is a link in the description above to a standalone timestamp addon that will run just fine alongside my addon, and I'm sure there are other timestamp addons available if you look for them.

since i have upgraded to the most recent version my edit box is now UNDER the chat window where as before it was on top. i can find no option to fix this. also /phanxchat and /pc do nothing in game and the minimap button menu is very limited.

What do you see on the minimap button menu? Are other features of the addon working?

It sounds like you're somehow not loading the main addon file. Try deleting the addon and re-downloading it. In the PhanxChat addon folder you should have:
Bindings.xml
Locale-enUS.lua
PhanxChat.lua
PhanxChat.toc
PhanxChatFu.lua
ReadMe.txt

I just installed this today and it works great, exactly as advertised!
But this created a question for me... I noticed the chat tabs flash option, but I can never see my chat tabs unless I mouse over the chat window. Is there a setting somewhere in the default ui or PhanxChat that would cause them to be hidden? I searched and searched, changed the alpha of my chat frames, locked the windows, unlocked the windows and scoured every checkbox in Blizz's Interface options, but I could not find a way to make the tabs always visible.

Hmm. You know, I'm not sure. I remember my chat tabs always used to be visible, long ago. I don't remember when that changed, or what I did. Were your tabs always visible before you installed PhanxChat? If so, try leaving tab flashing enabled. The option wording may be slightly confusing... by default it's enabled, which is the same as the default UI, and lets tabs flash normally, and turning it off activates the addon's "stop flashing" feature. I've just logged off for the night and am on my way to sleep, but I'll play around with things tomorrow and see if I can't figure out what makes the tabs go into hiding.

To be honest, I have not had my chat windows stacked in a very long time and therefore did not need tabs. In fact, I kept chat windows locked from the Blizz Interface options, so that I would not see any indication of the window other than the chat text. I overhauled my interface last night (wow, I actually went three months without changing anything!), stacked three chat windows together and this all just coincided with installing PhanxChat.

After asking some guildies if they knew how to make the tabs always visible (I got the same "hmmm" response, heh), I decided to ask here as it seemed appropriate.

Perhaps, this could turn into a feature request? A toggle for always visible chat tabs?

NavyFC:
Maybe, but don't hold your breath. It's not really something I'd ever use (I have 5 tabs on one window, but I don't really want to see them unless I'm mousing over them to click on one), and it would involved overwriting some of Blizzard's chat functions with butchered duplicate code.

Djagamoone:
Click to whisper and shift-click to /who are part of the default UI; I didn't add them. I have no plans at this time to add any alternate click behaviors to player names. See the addon description under "Have a feature request?". PlayerLinkMenu will do what you want. Personally I use tekPlayerMenu which just adds those kind of things to the player name right-click menu.